Show HN: Agent payments by social handles (not Stripe-based, not on bank rails)

Quidli launched Connect, an open payments system that lets AI agents send tokens to people or other agents by resolving social handles from Telegram, Discord, Farcaster, X, GitHub, LinkedIn, email, and phone to wallets, with reputation checks before transactions. The service is available as an MCP server compatible with Cursor, Claude Desktop, and Claude Code, and requires no API key for basic lookups, though a key unlocks higher limits and Smart Send. The public repository is on GitHub at github.com/Quidli/connect-mcp.

Open payments for multiplayer agents, powered by social reputation. Resolve a social handle to a wallet, check reputation, and send tokens — from Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-compatible client. Multiplayer means parties who don't already know each other — an agent paying a person, or another agent, with no prior relationship and no account to fall back on. Connect is how it verifies who it's dealing with before sending anything. Public repository: github.com/Quidli/connect-mcp https://github.com/Quidli/connect-mcp No API key required. Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http quidli https://mcp.connect.quid.li/ Cursor: Add to Cursor or paste that link into Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server Claude Desktop: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector , URL https://mcp.connect.quid.li Local any client — runs on your machine instead of the hosted endpoint: npx -y @quidli/connect-mcp See Choose how to connect choose-how-to-connect below for API keys, x402 wallet pay-per-call, and full config snippets. Then ask your agent: Resolve the Farcaster handle ahn.eth to a wallet. { "status": "completed", "results": { "type": "farcaster", "value": "ahn.eth", "ethWalletAddress": "0x07De92Ce6474D718c80e696516bf0bE53290fF5E", "solWalletAddress": "9DD2CqPKZJoo7ZRgCXxJNMjhzfgVihSKtkZpn8qnEWK9" } } Resolves across Telegram, Discord, Farcaster, X, GitHub, LinkedIn, email and phone — and generates a wallet for people who have never used Quidli. Lookup, scores, and price run without a key under a shared anonymous quota. Add a Connect API key https://connect.quid.li for higher limits, your own profile connect me , and Smart Send. | | Hosted mcp.connect.quid.li | Local npx @quidli/connect-mcp | |---|---|---| | Setup | Add a URL in MCP settings | Run a local process via npx | | Auth | Optional API key. Without a key: lookup/scores under a shared anonymous quota; price/chains are public | API key, x402 pay-per-call, or none for lookup/scores | | Pros | No install; try without a key; always on Quidli infrastructure | Wallet private key never leaves your machine; pay per call with USDC instead of an API key | | Cons | Anonymous traffic shares a global rate limit; no pay-per-call billing | Requires Node.js 20+; npx may download the package on first run | | Limitations | Cannot use x402 / wallet auth — do not send a private key to the hosted endpoint | x402 mode needs USDC on Base mainnet 8453 ; connect drop requires an API key | Get a Connect API key at connect.quid.li https://connect.quid.li → Enable API access for higher limits, connect me , and Smart Send. Zero local setup. Lookup, scores, agent, and price work without an API key shared anonymous quota . Add a key for higher limits, your profile connect me , and Smart Send. If you already have other MCP servers: skip the deeplink and add manually cursor-manual — the one-click install can overwrite your entire mcp.json in some Cursor versions. Add to Cursor Or paste into Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server : cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=quidli-connect&config=eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL21jcC5jb25uZWN0LnF1aWQubGkifQ== Merge this into ~/.cursor/mcp.json global or .cursor/mcp.json project under mcpServers — do not replace your existing entries: "quidli-connect": { "url": "https://mcp.connect.quid.li" } Optional — higher limits and Smart Send: "quidli-connect": { "url": "https://mcp.connect.quid.li", "headers": { "x-api-key": "<your-connect-api-key " } } 1. Open Claude → Settings → Connectors or Settings → Developer → Edit Config on older versions . 2. Add a custom MCP connector with URL https://mcp.connect.quid.li . Optionally set header x-api-key: <your-connect-api-key . Or merge this into your config file and restart Claude: - macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude desktop config.json - Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude desktop config.json { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "url": "https://mcp.connect.quid.li" } } } If your Claude version does not support remote url connectors, use the local bridge instead still hosted API, runs a small local helper : { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "mcp-remote@latest", "--http", "https://mcp.connect.quid.li" } } } Requires Node.js 20+ for the bridge. Restart Claude Desktop after saving. You should see a hammer icon in the chat input when tools are available. Without a key, initialize / tools/list always succeed. Anonymous tools/call share a global quota HTTP 429 when exceeded — get a key for higher limits . Placeholder keys still return 401 . 1. Go to grok.com/connectors https://grok.com/connectors and select Custom . 2. Enter the server URL: https://mcp.connect.quid.li This gives Grok access to the anonymous-tier tools -- lookup, scores, agent, and price -- under the shared quota. Current limitation: Grok's custom connector UI does not currently support attaching an API key or custom header. That means connect me , connect drop , and connect drop balance all API key only are not usable through Grok yet -- calls to them will return an unauthorized error. This isn't a connect-mcp limitation; it's Grok's custom-connector setup not exposing an auth field at this time. If you already use Smithery https://smithery.ai/servers/quidli/connect , it will handle auth and sessions for you. Requires a Smithery account. npx smithery login npx smithery mcp add quidli/connect Best if you want pay-per-call with a wallet, or prefer credentials in a local env file. Requires Node.js 20+ . Add one of the following to .cursor/mcp.json project or your global MCP settings. Same billing model as hosted; credentials stay on your machine. { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "CONNECT API KEY": "<your-connect-api-key ", "CONNECT API BASE URL": "https://api.connect.quid.li" } } } } No API key. Authenticated calls pay automatically when the API returns HTTP 402. Your wallet private key is only read by the local process. { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "EVM PRIVATE KEY": "0x<wallet-with-usdc-on-base ", "CONNECT API BASE URL": "https://api.connect.quid.li", "CONNECT X402 EVM NETWORK": "8453" } } } } Use 84532 for Base Sepolia when pointing at a staging API. The MCP process starts without CONNECT API KEY or EVM PRIVATE KEY . connect lookup , connect scores , connect get price , and connect get chains call the API without auth. That succeeds when x402 is disabled price 0 , typical for local . On production with x402 enabled, those tools return HTTP 402 until you set a key or wallet. connect me , connect drop , and connect drop balance still require CONNECT API KEY . { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "CONNECT API BASE URL": "http://127.0.0.1:3011" } } } } 1. Open Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config enable Developer mode first if you do not see it . 2. Merge one of the blocks below into mcpServers in: - macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude desktop config.json - Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude desktop config.json 1. Restart Claude Desktop. { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "CONNECT API KEY": "<your-connect-api-key ", "CONNECT API BASE URL": "https://api.connect.quid.li" } } } } { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "EVM PRIVATE KEY": "0x<wallet-with-usdc-on-base ", "CONNECT API BASE URL": "https://api.connect.quid.li", "CONNECT X402 EVM NETWORK": "8453" } } } } If both CONNECT API KEY and EVM PRIVATE KEY are set, the API key is used. Credentials are optional in local mode. Without either variable, lookup/scores still work when the API does not charge x402. connect me and Smart Send tools require CONNECT API KEY . If you're launching @quidli/connect-mcp via npx from inside a background process manager -- a macOS launchd agent, a systemd unit, a supervisor, or any client config running without a normal interactive shell -- it can hang indefinitely with zero output and no error . This isn't a crash; npx is stuck resolving PATH in an environment that doesn't provide the same shell initialization an interactive terminal gets. Workaround: if you have Bun https://bun.sh installed, use bunx instead of npx . It performs the same job -- running the package without a local install -- but doesn't hit this hang in restricted- PATH environments. { "mcpServers": { "quidli-connect": { "command": "bunx", "args": "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , "env": { "CONNECT API KEY": "your-api-key" } } } } If you're spawning the process yourself rather than through a client's MCP config and want to be resilient to bunx not being on PATH either, resolve it by absolute path first: js import { spawn } from "node:child process"; import { existsSync } from "node:fs"; import { homedir } from "node:os"; import { join } from "node:path"; const BUNX PATH = = { const candidate = join homedir , ".bun", "bin", "bunx" ; return existsSync candidate ? candidate : "bunx"; } ; const proc = spawn BUNX PATH, "-y", "@quidli/connect-mcp" , { stdio: "pipe", "pipe", "pipe" , } ; This isn't a general claim that Bun is better than npm -- it's a targeted fix for one specific, reproducible failure mode when npx is spawned outside an interactive shell. Double-check you're setting CONNECT API KEY , not API KEY -- the server only reads CONNECT API KEY , and a mismatch here fails silently: your calls will run in anonymous/unauthenticated mode instead of erroring, which can look like a working-but-oddly-limited connection rather than a config mistake. | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | connect get price | List reference prices no auth | | connect get chains | List supported chains and feature compatibility no auth | | connect lookup | Resolve social identities to EVM and SOL wallet addresses | | connect lookup exposed | List platforms a recipient has exposed on Connect | | connect scores batch | Batch scores for accounts or usernames | | connect scores by account | Scores for one linked account | | connect scores by username | Scores by Connect username | | connect me | API key owner profile, scores, and linked accounts — API key only | | connect drop | Smart Send EVM batch or Solana SOL/SPL — API key only | | connect drop balance | Smart Send wallet balances on a chain — API key only | Ask your client to use these tools when you need Connect data or actions.